Cute Picture moment

The last post didn't have any pictures. That's no fun. So, while you could have visited the flickr site to see these, here's a couple pictures of Carter being cute.

One Resolution Down....

One of my resolutions for this year was to get a bit more organized with sharing photos online. Since there are a billion and one different places out there just begging me to use their services, I was a bit hesitant to start investing any energy into a site for fear of hating it completely and swearing off web album stuff altogether.

I've semi-committed to Flickr.com. It's popular, easy to use, and they'll host all my photos at their original resolution (I'm weird that way... don't want anybody changing my files without permission, which is why Picasa got the boot).

So, for your bookmarking enjoyment, here is the link for all things photo-related:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/burkmans

New photos will go there all the time, but blogworthy photos will still go here. For now, this site is publicly available, but I'm going to end up making it most of it private sooner than later.

If you want 100% access, we just need to be flickr buddies so let me know. Our username is burkmans.

Tagged!

So my sister-in-law Jessie tagged me with this a while back, but I didn't know what some of the exact questions were and wanted to wait until I did. Well, a couple of my other sisters-in-law, Lori and Cassie, did this same little questionnaire yesterday, so I am finally doing it. :)

See if you can guess our answer before you read it.

1. What is his full name? (I assume they're asking about Chris)

Christopher Louis Burkman.

2. How long have you been married?

2 years, 6 months, 3 days and counting.

3. How long did you date?

This is a tricky one. I guess we technically dated about 4 months (including our engagement) but the whole process was a little over two years start to finish.

4. Who eats more?

Chris could definitely eat more but we usually eat about the same amount.

5. Who said I love you first?

I did although Chris tries to claim this one for himself (even though he knows it isn't true)

6. Who has more speeding tickets?

This is easy: Chris! I haven't had any (knock on wood)

7. Who is smarter?

I'm smarter but I know better than to admit that (it'd hurt his feelings) so Chris is DEFINITELY smarter.

8. Who is more sensitive?

Chris is a crybaby, but he doesn't like people to know. So, I'm the more sensitive one. Chris is too manly to be sensitive.

9. When there is a fight who usually wins?

Depends on the fighting style. In boxing, Chris has the edge (longer arms) but if we're thumb-wrestling, I'll win every time (Chris has stubby, sausage thumbs and I have monkey fingers; it's not even close).

10. Who does the laundry?

Maria.

11. Who does the dishes?

Again, Maria.

12. Who sleeps on the right?

Maria. Just kidding. Facing the bed, I sleep on the right, cats on the left and Chris on the floor, but he usually sneaks into the left side of the bed after I fall asleep.

13. Who pays the bills?

Nobody really does. Repo-man will sooner or later, I'm sure. But when we absolutely have to pay, Chris takes care of it.

14. Who mows the lawn?

Good question, probably somebody in our HOA. We haven't lived here long enough to actually see the grass... just snow. Stupid, stupid snow, so we may not even have grass.

15. Who cooks dinner?

Since Carter hasn't mastered this one quite yet, Chris does most of the cooking cause he's obsessed with it and he's home during the day. I'll throw something together when Chris is feeling too lazy, which actually ends up being like 4 days a week. So, in conclusion, we both cook.

16. Who drives when you are together?

Chris usually drives because he's a baby and gets carsick too easy.

17. Who is more stubborn?

This is 50-50 but Chris usually wins an argument cause he just keeps at it if he's losing, adding all sorts of tangents that don't have anything to do with anything. I get so riled up that I end up quitting the argument by ignoring him altogether.

18. Who kissed who first?

Chris kissed first. Her name was Kristi. It was sometime in the 90's. But if you're talking about me and Chris, we usually start kissing at the same time. If one of us isn't kissing, it kinda ruins it.

19. Who asked who out first?

Chris says that I used to bug him about when he was going to ask me out but I don't remember that. First official date, Chris asked me.

20. Who proposed?

Chris did... over Memorial day weekend in Portland, Oregon.

21. Who has more siblings?

I do. 3 brothers. Chris has a brother and sister.

22. Who wears the pants?

Buster has fuzzy pants! (I'll get a picture to put here. It's like puss in boots but with fuzzy pants.) These days it seems like Carter wears the pants too since he dictates our sleeping schedule and pretty much all aspects of our lives.

Now I'm supposed to tag somebody. So, if you're reading this and want to do it- great. If not, whatever.

Also, it's way more fun to do this when your spouse is sitting right next to you piping in with sarcastic quips.

Happy Valentine's Day

So Valentine's day has never been a big holiday for me. I always considered it just a day to spend money on frivilous, meaningless junk, however, I always felt so good getting little valentines, notes, anything, from anyone on Valentines day. I guess it doesn't take much to remind someone they are loved and appreciated.

I'm intrigued by the history of the weird pagaen holidays we celebrate each year and thought I would share a little information I found about the history of Valentine's day.

"February 14 is Valentine's Day. Although it is celebrated as a lovers' holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in love, it originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.
For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year.
In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.
Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius.
Claudius had determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. But Valentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When he failed, he was stoned and beheaded.
During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since.
Although the lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name.
The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. Cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became
associated with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and
beauty."

So Happy Valentine's Day to Chris, Carter, and our family and friends.

Figured it out... I think

We got a video camera for Christmas. It's official purpose is to capture cute Carter moments so we can have them for ever and ever and ever. We've done well to capture some moments already, but I haven't put them on our computer yet... until now!

Our blog is becoming more media savvy and now we have streaming video! So, to start off this new chapter in our sporadic blogging life, here is Carter getting tickled: